Sunday Sessions #79
The Outer Circle
What we are currently thinking..
“Goals without emotion are just to-do lists. Targets without pull are just wishes” - Chris Bodman.
If you tuned in to last week’s session (if not you can recap it here) you’ll recall that I mentioned starting your goals with WHY. An identity, who are you trying to become? The values that make up that person. Setting a why creates gravitational pull in the direction you are headed.
With that direction in place you can now come up with a target (a WHAT). Your WHAT, as we said last week, is the goal we are familiar setting. Losing 10kgs, running a marathon, etc. When setting a WHAT don’t just pick something on a whim. Your goal should be compelling. Something that will move you toward action. Something just out of your reach that is both exciting and scary all at the same time. At this point you don’t need to be logical or restrained. That will come soon enough. Dream. Wish. Because this sparks action. Think 6 months out. 12 months out. What is the byproduct of adhering to those values (your WHY) if you stuck with them for a year? WHAT is the destination on the map?
“We don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems” - James Clear
Once you have your target, your destination, don’t stop there. Your goals are analogue not digital. Navigating the map will be an active process. Break your WHAT down into HOW. Understanding systems (HOW) will get you from where you are to where you want to go. Your systems are sets of daily behaviours, habits, non-negotiables, fundamentals that drive progress. Lofty goals are hard to stick to. Inconsistency chokes momentum.
This is where we go wrong.
Our systems should be small enough so that we can tick them off each day. Instead we often set targets predicated on a perfect day rather than an everyday. We set ourselves up for failure. Accumulating small wins reaffirms your WHY - the person you are trying to become.
Your fundamentals, non-negotiables, habits, whatever you want to call them, these are behaviours that in isolation don’t really impact much on a daily basis. You won’t feel the shifting of the tide. We’ve discussed them at length before but for those who are on nutrition plans, it’s the behaviours once you strip the plan back. Once you look beyond the confines of the boxes. What are the key components of the plan? The actions you take that helps you reach the target you are striving for? This could be daily movement, drinking water, consuming protein, eating more fruits & vegetables, getting enough sleep. No one meal of protein or drink of water will inherently shift the needle in your health goals, but repeated over time they compound. They get you closer to the target.
We can’t talk about goals with mentioning milestones and celebration. Every game has check points, every trip has fuel stops. There’s a reason Microsoft Word autosaves, seeing accumulation builds further momentum. Imagine having to restart every time you opened a document. Instead, each time you start again you pick up where you left off. Check points are mini goals, you’re not there yet but you’re heading in the right direction. Without check points our journey can seem like it’s going round in circles. Break that large target down into manageable segments. Somewhere in-between the daily HOW and yearly WHAT. Points in time where you can step back. Reflect. Celebrate. Look back at where you started and how far you’ve come. Without doing so we can get bogged down by enormity of the journey.
Celebration sparks enjoyment. Enjoyment entices curiosity. Curiosity fuels intrinsic motivation. Our WHY.
Goals should create enough force to move the inertia of your current position. But motivation is short lived. Create momentum through systems. Systems built around daily behaviours.
We develop a WHY which clarifies WHAT. Break down that WHAT into systems of HOW. And remember to checkin with yourself or others and celebrate the milestones along the way.
Your goals, your biography. Your values are the reason to write. The destination is the finished book. What lies between are the milestones and systems that compound to create your story.